The Opelousas courier., 1887-10-15
ABOUT BEDS.
Some of Their Peculiarities in
Ancient Times.
Beds and Bedsteads Formerly
Used in England.

The beds OF tho anclents had IN gen
eral few peculiarities to distinguish then
from our simpler forms. Both thu
Greeks and the Romans had their beds
supported on frames that rcsembled oul
modern bedsteads, feather and WOO
mattresses were common, and the bed
clothing, in the luxurious period of eacl
nation, was richlp decorated with elab
Grated needle work. The Britons, wher
conquered by Caesar, slept on skins, after
the manner of our North American In.
dians, but at a later period they made
use of straw sacks as beds. The ancient
Egyptians had a couch of peculiar shape
and a ~profusion of soft cushions and
richly embroidered drapery. Most &,
the beds mentioned in the Bible were
probably of the ordinary simple kind.
During the middle ages beds were
made of coarse canvas and filled with
straw or leaves. These could be opened
and the litter rc-madc daily, as is the
custom today with the mattresses in the
old-fashioncd inns of France and Italy.
CSThe bedsteads were low-posted and usu-
ally had q canopy at the head. In the
Bayeux tapestry Edward the Confessor
is represented lying upon a raised seat,
his head supported by squared pillows,
and the canopy over his head is attached
to the" waS. Scott in his romance of
''Ivanhoe," describes one of the beds in
the mansion of Cedric the Saxon, as con-
! sisting of a rude Clutch or bed-frame,
stuffed with clean straw and accommo-
dated with two or three sheepskins by
way of ed-clothcs." The bed of the
Lady Rowena "was adorned with rich
tapestry and surrounded with curtains of
dyed purple"
The house of the ancient English
gentleman was not, as a general thing,
provided with bedrooms. A chamber
or shed was built against the wall that
inclosed the mansion and its ~dependen-
cies, and in this little cell the lord and
his lady slept. Sometimes there was
mother chamber of the same kind built
for the daughter or young ladies of the
Many illusions to such bed
rooms are found in Chaucer. AS a gene
raj thing the young men of the house
and the guests slept on tables and
benches in the great hall whereowooAen
covcrlets or blankets were provided fox
warmth. Servants and attendants slept
on the floor.
Later on, IN the time of tn Tus3rs,
the ''four-postc bedstead," an immense
piece of furniture, having a canopy sup
porter at each corne of the posts, be-
came the fashionable sleeping couch.
Some of the old wills mention ''posted
sett work bedsteads." These paneled
bedsteads were sometimes of elegant and
massive architecture. The columns re-
sembled huge balusters, and rose from
square dado bases and all the frame
pieces were carved with decorative
holdings of various patterns. On some
of the earlier bedsteads the column ter
minated with figures representing the
fonr evangelists.
Under these great ''set work. bed
steads were put trundle-beds for the
body servants and children. 1t is re-
lated of a Spanish page who went to
England with his master in the time of
Queen Elizabeth, that one day, while
wandering about the spacious mansion,
he entered the Don where the maids
were making the beds, and spying the
arrangements of the sliding beds was
quite taken with them. In his own
country he had slept on straw in the
hostler's loft, but in England he had
found that rather uncomfortable on ac-
count of the cold. So he says to his
master: "Sir, there are a sort of little
beds under the great beds in this house,
which they say are for servants; l pray
you to suffer me to lie in one of them,n
In the sleeping chamber was usually q
perch, answering to an old-fashioned
clothes-horse. On it, says an old writ
er, chang your clothes, mantles, frocks,
cloaks, doublets, furs, winter clothes
and of summer"
Shakespeare's ''second best bed" with
sthe furniture, -" which he bequeathed
to his wife, Ann hathaway, was un-
doubtedly one of those huge Eliza
bethan bedsteads with canopy, curtains
and square pillows. The furniture con-
sisted of the changed beds" ''harden
Sheets" of fine fax, STOCK beds cover
let's" "pillow beer" and counter
%coints," so named from the fact that the
squares were in contrasting colors. The
well-to-do gentleman of the late middle
ages kept a good supply of bedding.
The stGreat Bed of Ware" mentioned
by shakespeares is probably the largest
bed in the world. 1t is of Tudor style,
twelve feet square, of solid oak, and
deliberately carved. For three centuries
or more it has been preserved at the inn
of the Saracen's head in the town of
Ware, in Hartfordshire. AS many as
twelve persons are said to have slept in
it at one time. - Cosmopoltan Review.